20 Songs You Need To Listen To Now (May 2013)

Once upon a time, the only way you could find out about new music was by being a mag head. Flipping through pages took you away from the Top 40 and introduced the Modest Mouses, the Title Fights and the De La Souls of the world. For most, nothing felt better than throwing a new artist onto their third generation iPod and falling into the deep end of a different sound, and that’s where this feature comes in. Every month, we’ll mess with nostalgia and generate a staff-selected mix of new tracks and re-works that you may have missed, introducing a goodie bag of vices that deserve a spot in your rotation. Unboxing every genre, here are 20 Songs You Need To Listen To Now.

LIGHT YEARS – “NICE TO KNOW YOU”Saving souls with “pop punk for grown-ups”, the Cleveland foursome craft songs that will make your heart bleed.

BASS DRUM OF DEATH – “CRAWLING AFTER YOU”
John Barrett’s one-man garage show has produced the only fuzz-soaked love song you need to hear this summer.

WEED – “SET ME BACK”
Don’t let the name fool you; the Vancouver sludge rockers send an axe to the wall with their grainy single.

WISE BLOOD – “UNIVERSE IS BLESSED”There are producers, and then there’s Christopher Laufman, a rare oddity that streamlines polished experimentation.